Investment group sub to buy MM&A

Beleaguered short line Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Railway (MM&A), under financial duress due to the July 6, 2013 derailment and explosion of a train in Lac-Megantic, Quebec, has signed a sales agreement with Railroad Acquisisition Holdings LLC, an affiliate of New York-based Fortress Investment Group.

Local Maine media reported late Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2014 that Railroad Acquisition Holdings submitted a winning bid of $14.25 million during a 40-minute auction that involved up to 18 interested bidders. Fortress Investment Group, long perceived as the lead bidder, also owns Florida East Coast Railway.

Fortress' winning bid is scheduled to be vetted by a U.S. bankruptcy judge in Maine and a Superior Court judge in Quebec on Thursday, Jan. 23.

MM&A filed for bankruptcy last summer following the derailment in Lac-Megantic, which killed 47. The railroad traverses portions of Maine, Vermont, and Quebec, with a U.S. headquarters in Hermon, Maine (see map above). MM&A's parent company making the sale, Rail World, Inc., is based in Chicago.